Trauma & Place
Trauma and Place is an ongoing photography, video-art and digital art project depicting various places of war, persecution and displacement. The works in this collection, created especially for the exhibition "Art in Conflict" by Ceasefire at P21 Gallery, London, were created over ten years through artists' residencies, commissions and self-initiated works.
Some places depicted in these works are related to Mualem-Doron's family history in Europe and the Middle East. Others are related to various sites of conflict in areas such as Israel/Palestine, England, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Spain.
The Shelter [2022-2023]
Photography: Gil Mualem-Doron
Singing: Rachel Doron
Words: Don't Cry, Child by Efrime Buchok
Music: Rifat Sanliel
The work depicts Mualem-Doron's first memory as a child from 1973 in Israel.
The Bunker
Photography: Gil Mualem-Doron
Composition and Singing: Geoff Falk
A dérive in a deserted bunder near Doverovnik, Croatia, facing Neo-Nazi graffiti on one of the bunker's walls.
The Dunes [2023]
Photography: Gil Mualem-Doron
Modelling: Mikey Chambers
Music: World on Fire by Andy Bird
The Dunes, a photography series and short video artwork, alludes to the story of the Spanish artist César Manrique who burned his uniform after returning to Lanzarote from fighting in the Spanish Civil War. The photoshoot took place at the Búnker de Arinaga in Gran Canaria, built during World War II. The site was littered with Neo-Nazi graffiti, which Mikey chipped from the walls with a stone. The work includes another night photoshoot at the nearby Maspalomas dunes, one of the most popular gay cruising sites in Europe. During the Franco dictatorship, on a nearby island, gays were imprisoned in a "re-educational camp" after the "Social Danger Laws" were approved on 4 August 1970.
The Beach [Rosetta 2013] 04:13
Photography: Gil Mualem-Doron
Acting: Maram Atouleh
Poetry: Mahmoud Darwish
A young woman is walking at the site of the destroyed Palestinian village, Al-Rasid, on the border of Tel-Aviv and Jaffa, finding a remnant, a paving stone, and building a model of a house on it.
The Sea [Twinkle Twinkle 2021] (06:55)
Concept & Direction: Gil Mualem-Doron
Concept and editing: Gil Mualem-Doron
Photography - Joe Hartman
Singing - Juliet Russell, Vocal Explosion.
Violin - Geoff Falk.
The short video work Twinkle Twinkle highlights the death of refugee children in sea crossings and the betrayal of the UN's member countries to the promise given to refugees in the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Queens Hall Arts digital curator Dominic Smith commissioned the work, which was created for the 70th Anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention.
The Village ( Present Absentees 2019)
Photography: Gil Mualem-Doron
Music: Kosta T
photography series
The project depicts the issue of "Present Absentees" or Internally Displaced Persons (IDP's) in Israel. Present Absentees are Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in Mandatory Palestine by Jewish or Israeli forces before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war but who remained within the area that became the State of Israel. They are regarded as absent by the Israeli government because they were missing from their homes on a particular day. Israel seized IDPs’ homes, property and lands. 274,000 Arab citizens of Israel (25%) are IDP.
The project was created during an artist's residency at Umm El-Fahem Gallery, Israel, with former residents and their descendants of Al-Lajjun village that was demolished shortly after it was conqurtrf in 1948.
The Camp [2021-2022]
Photography: Gil Mualem-Doron
Performer: Dimitris Galanakis
Music: Wicked by Vomitdog
A photography series and a short video dance in an abandoned holiday camp near Thessaloniki. The photoshoot was in response to Galanakis's attempt to evade the mandatory military service in Greece and the process of Coming Out.
The Tower [2023]
In 1190, one of the worst antisemitic massacres of the Middle Ages took place on the site of Clifford's Tower when York's Jewish community were trapped there by a violent mob, and many Jews chose to commit suicide rather than be murdered. The suicide recalls the action taken by Jewish rebels in Masada during the Roman regime in 73 BC, although it is unlikely they were aware of this story. The event has been so traumatic that until this day, some Jews will not set foot in the city and believe that "Herem", a form of religious shunning, has been put in place.
The art video includes a photo montage of the tower and an audio collage made of the story of the massacre [created by the National Trust and played in the tower], a recording from a Shabat ceremony with the small Jewish community in York and a random chat with Jewish visitors to the Place.
The Bridge [from the series The Memory of Water 2022]
Photography: Gil Mualem-Doron
A series of abstract video art / digital moving images depicting several sites in Catalonia linked to the history of Jews in the area before their expulsion in the 15th Century. The project was created during an artist's residency at Faberllull, Olot and was exhibited in the solo exhibition "The Sea is the Same Sea" at Umm El Fahem Gallery. More works can be viewed here: https://www.gmdart.com/watermemory